Michal Menert

Michal Menert

Michal Menert was born in Kielce, Poland while the country was under communist rule. As a young child, he and his parents fled to the United States by way of West Germany, becoming political refugees. During his childhood, Michal's father exposed him to a wide variety of Eastern and Western music, giving the boy fertile soil in which to plants his musical visions early on. Coming from a musical background of playing guitar, keyboards, and dabbling in a variety of other instruments gave Michal a unique approach to composing his own musical style. He grew up in Colorado with Derek Vincent Smith of Pretty Lights, and together they played in several bands and challenged and inspired each other as they developed their own unique production styles. He co-produced the debut Pretty Lights album, "Taking Up Your Precious Time" and has collaborated with Derek Vincent Smith on a handful of tracks since then. His solo album, entitled "Dreaming of A Bigger Life" was released on Pretty Lights Music in the spring of 2010. His sound combines obscure vintage samples from both Eastern European and Western vinyl with rich analog synthesis and organic hard hitting beats. It is a fusion of yesterday's elements and tomorrow's ideas.

ODESZA (at 9:30 Club)

In 2012, a striking new voice emerged from the wider surge of
electronic music in the U.S. ODESZA’s Summer’s Gone stood out from the crowd; it was a collection of songs, not just beats; and its irresistible, startling dreaminess, addictive drums and fathoms-deep bass set it apart from the by-the-numbers brutality of EDM’s also-rans. In an age of manufactured internet buzz and carefully plotted hype, ODESZA’s story was refreshingly authentic: A brilliant new duo unveiled their music on the internet, and the world paid attention.

Harrison Mills (aka CatacombKid) and Clayton Knight (aka
BeachesBeaches) began recording together after meeting at
Western Washington University. There was instant chemistry,
and the pair worked prolifically, quickly carving out a distinctive,
heady sound: glitched-out vocals, soaring, visceral melody and ear-gripping drums. Two songs from Summer’s Gone – “How Did IGet Here” and “iPlayYouListen” – instantly leapt to number 1 on the Hype Machine Popular Chart. ODESZA began to make
evangelical fans, with word of their music setting the world – both real and virtual – alight.

2013 saw the release of the My Friends Never Die EP, with three of the five tracks hitting #1 on Hype Machine. Relentless touring followed, including dates with Pretty Lights, Emancipator, Michal Menert, and performances at Sasquatch Music Festival, Lightning In A Bottle, What The Festival, Summer Meltdown, Capitol Hill Block Party, MusicfestNW, Decibel Festival and Symbiosis Gathering. Thrown in at the deep end, ODESZA quickly honed a live craft to match that of their recordings.

The duo was playing to larger and larger crowds when Pretty
Lights asked them to be the support act on the fall Pretty Lights
tour, and to remix "One Day They'll Know," which also hit #1
on Hype Machine and #8 on the iTunes Electronic Chart. Later
in 2013, ODESZA selected their favourite producers for a follow
up remix EP, My Friends Never Die Remixes, and launched the
ambitious, ongoing mixtape series NO.SLEEP.

February 2014 brought the release of the ODESZA single “Sun
Models (feat. Madelyn Grant,)” taken from the duo’s forthcoming
second album. This song continued the trend they’d set previously, and it too hit #1 on Hype Machine. In March 2014 ODESZA’s remix of Pretty Lights’ “Lost And Found” was released on the DIVERGENT movie soundtrack, and (you guessed it!) hit #1 on Hype Machine. Harrison and Clayton headed back into the studio, putting the finishes touches to their forthcoming second album, before setting out on a sold out North American tour in Spring, culminating in a performance at Coachella. Not wanting to leave their growing legion of fans wanting, the duo’s remix of ZHU’s hit “Faded” was released, taking their #1s on the Hype Machine chart straight into double figures.

Summer 2014 saw ODESZA visit Australia to play a series of live dates, before heading back to North America for festivals, and to polish up and master their now hotly anticipated sophomore album. And finally that brand new album is here. In Return has more than just delivered on the promise of ODESZA’s previous work. A record with a precocious maturity and coherence, it’s a start-to-finish stunner of pop-infused, electronic wonder, littered with infectious hooks and potent atmosphere. Vocal performances from Zyra, Py and Shy Girls accompany that of Madelyn Grant on Sun Models, expertly worked into ODESZA’s trademark, mood-altering uplift.
ODESZA are set to tour the album throughout the fall, playing
long runs of sold out dates across the U.S and Europe. A new
live performance has been developed to accompany In Return –
ensuring that the shows will do full justice to the album – and a
host of like minded artists are busily remixing the singles.

One of the stunning aspects of ODESZA is the speed with which
they’ve created a large, devoted fanbase – testament to just how refreshing, immediate and exciting their music is. ODESZA has amassed over 15 million SoundCloud streams, at an average of 500,000 per week. They’ve picked up 7.5 million Spotify plays, and been licensed by Adidas, GoPro, Piz Buin and many more. That’s a lot of people who’ve been waiting on the new album. Luckily for them, In Return is everything fans might have hoped for and then some: An album that places ODESZA firmly in the vanguard of electronic music’s coming of age.

"ODESZA's...'iPlayYouListen'...fits firmly in the goopy electro-
camp of acts like Purity Ring and Chvrches, where ebullient production floats on a stormy, synthy sea, where bright notes
reflect even brighter off the water" -The FADER

"Their new jam, 'My Friends Never Die,' feels like crashing
down a waterfall on a bouquet of roses with Flying Lotus as your
chauffeur. These are stoner jams to smack your bubblegum to --
full of hip-hop grooves and sunshine." - Vice's Thump

"Accented by a pretty piano riff, the graceful track ['Home']
takes its time while taking your brain on a calm ride, eventually
getting comfy under a sexy bass-and-snap drumbeat." -Interview Magazine

"Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight have spent the last couple
years creating dreamy instrumental hip-hop as Catacombkid and BeachesBeaches, respectively. And while Catacombkid's late-night beauty feels counterpoint to Beaches' sunny bliss - together, as ODESZA, they create a world where both exist in gorgeous harmony." - Stereogum

Mikey Thunder

Thunder spins a genre blending,bassdriven-partyrock-electrocrunk-futurefunk.With 16 years in the game,he's mastered the art of improvisation with an uncanny ability to work with and rework the vibe of the party with precision.Mikey learned his chops in the diverse music scene of Burlington Vermont where he gained a love and appreciation for all types of music and immersed himself into dj culture. In the fall of 1999,Mikey relocated to the mountains of Jackson Hole where he was soon kidnapped by Michael Franti and Spearhead for the Stay Human Tour.After opening for Spearhead in Jackson Hole,Thunder was handpicked by Michael Franti to open the rest of the tour where he mixed beats into their sets,during set break,and scratched with their beatboxer,Radioactive.
After the Spearhead tour Mikey relocated to Boulder and continued to pursue his musical career.He has shared stages with some of the biggest names in hip hop and electronic music including Jurassic 5,Digable Planets,Del The Funky Homosapien,Arrested Development,Guru,Big Daddy Kane,Blackalicious,Crown City Rockers Lyrics Born,People Under The Stairs,One Self,The Alkaholiks,Dead Prez,Jedi Mind Tricks,M.O.P., The Clipse,2 Live Crew,Swollen Members,Method Man,Redman,Z-Trip,JBoogie,Fort Knox Five,Bassnectar,Glitch Mob,Anasia,Panty Raid,Vibe Squad,Prefuse73,Random Rab,Alex B,Savoy,Particle,Boombox,Disco Biscuits,and the End of Tour After Party for Jack Johnson & Ben Harper at Red Rocks.At that time Thunder also was an Atari playing stuntman DJ in the band Sonar.The band shared the stage with the Wailers at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City,the String Cheese Incident,and played Hightimes Magazine's SXSW party,and the Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam.
In the fall of 2009 Mikey joined the Pretty Lights team,opened for over 30 shows on their tours and performed cuts on the Making Up a Changing Mind EP,released in 2010.Thunder is currently Pretty Lights Music's DJ.
His favorite place to play is during sunrise on a old Chinese junk pirate ship by the trash fence on an ancient seabed drinking champagne and eating bacon with friends.